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Having consulted Webster's Dictionary, I see
that lotus may be a very appropriate symbol for "clean water" and
other environmental issues in Michigan and other regions. Lotus is described as
a fruit eaten by the "lotus-eaters" of Libya in Homer's
Odyssey, although of a different plant, Zizyphus lotus of the
Buckthorn family. The fruit induced a state of "dreamy indolence,
contentment, and forgetfulness".
Bill Collins
Huron Ecologic, LLC
3335 Crooks
Road
Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309 USA
phone & fax: 248-852-4682
e-mail: huronecologic@netzero.net
Huron Ecologic provides wetland delineations,
wetland permitting, wetland mitigation design & monitoring, tree
inventories, botanical & ecological surveys, natural area protection, nature
education, and technical training.
-----Original Message-----
From:
Anne Woiwode <anne.woiwode@sierraclub.org>
To:
'ENVIRO-MICH' <enviro-mich@great-lakes.net>
Date:
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 5:57 PM
Subject: E-M:/ Symbol for
Clean water unanimously passes Senate, while substantive laws and funding
are being gutted
Friends:
The Senate yesterday passed unanimously a
bill to designate the American lotus blossom as the "official state
symbol for clean water in this state" (see entire bill below).
While this is a noble gesture, and one to be applauded on its merits
independent of comparisons, there is a sickening irony that at this VERY
moment other bills before the Senate will actually determine the
fate of Clean Water in Michigan, and it looks like the same commitment to
Clean Water is absent in the Senate on these bills.
The bills include:
- a proposal that would allow the wanton destruction of
the coastal wetlands that are the HOME of this lovely species (HB 4257), and
- the DEQ Budget Bill from the House currently under debate
in the Senate, which arrived with a huge, gaping hole in it that would gut
the ability of the DEQ to even PRETEND to assure that Clean Water exists by
drastically under funding this program, along with virtually every other
aspect of the environmental protection laws in Michigan
NO CREDIT SHOULD BE GIVEN FOR SYMBOLS
-- This was an extraordinarily easy vote -- if there is ANY desire to
actually assure the reality of clean water, not just endorse symbols, the Michigan Senate MUST VOTE NO ON HB 4257, MUST
RESTORE THE DEQ BUDGET TO FULL FUNDING LEVELS and pass the required PERMIT
FEES that would fully fund environmental
programs.
To do less is like painting the outside of a house rife with
termites -- meaningless, futile gestures that merely waste the electrons and
paper they use.
SB-0106,As Passed
Senate,May 27, 2003 (37 to 0, one not voting)
SENATE BILL No.
106
January 29, 2003, Introduced by Senators HAMMERSTROM, JOHNSON,
GOSCHKA and
BRATER and referred to the Committee on Local, Urban and
State
Affairs.
A
bill to designate an official state symbol for clean
water
in
this
state.
THE
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
ENACT:
1
Sec. 1. The American lotus blossom (Nelumbo lutea)
is
2
designated as the official state symbol for clean water in
this
3
state.
Anne
Woiwode
<<-->><<-->><<-->><<-->><<-->><<-->><<-->>
Anne
Woiwode, Staff Director, Sierra Club Mackinac Chapter
109 East Grand
River Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48906
517-484-2372; fax
517-484-3108 anne.woiwode@sierraclub.org
visit the Mackinac Chapter
on the web at http://michigan.sierraclub.org
Learn
the rules so that you know how to break them
properly
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